The present invention relates in general to lighting for photography including still, cine and video photography.
When shooting stills, movies or videos in an area lit with fluorescent light, such as supermarkets, showrooms, schools and offices, it is often difficult to balance downwardly shining or other fluorescent light. If this light is not balanced, photographs result with subjects having overly dark eyes and the lighting is generally listless.
In the past one solution to this problem was to turn off all the fluorescent lights. This often is impractical or too time consuming to relight large areas.
Another technique is to provide additional fluorescent fixtures having the same color temperature as the ceiling fixtures, and shining the light from these additional fixtures from approximately eye level toward the subjects. Fluorescent fixtures however, are notoriously bulky and heavy. Generally the equipment must be trucked in, significantly adding to the cost.
One known fluorescent fixture sold by the Softube Company of New York, has a frame for carrying four fluorescent tubes. The frame is made of two rigid parts which, with the tubes removed, can be folded in half. The sides and configuration of the folded package however, is still quite bulky and little savings in weight is achieved. Additionally, only a single length fluorescent tube can be accommodated in the fixture.